Varalli

Had a very enjoyable evening at Varalli. The service — from both maître’d and waiter — was extremely friendly and attentive; I admit that I may have a low bar for friendly after having dined in New York for years. We started with the warm beet salad with goat cheese. The mains though were the highlight of the meal. I had the swordfish with the orange/​fennel salad while my companion had the salmon with artichokes. Both were exquisitely prepared. Swordfish can easily be cooked dry, but this had just the right level of moistness. Plus it is quite convenient to theaters on South Broad Street.

I can only give a three. The maitre d set the tone by handing me the menu after I asked for a table for five as if to make sure I was OK with the prices. Really pi$$ed me off, he came off like a real Richard but we stayed because it was 8 pm on a Sunday and I was with children that just participated in an event… everyone was hungry.
My beet salad was warm, not particularly enjoyable.
My broiled free range chicken was perfectly prepared. I give big props to the chef, he nailed it.
My kids tried the chicken fingers, clean oil and no complaints.
Waitress was friendly and attentive.
If the condescending maitre d stayed home that night, I would have given a better rating.
Still, the chicken was so perfectly prepared, I hope my review doesn’t scare off any potential customers, that is unless you plan on dining with the maitre D.

excellent mix of mediterranean italian & nouvelle cuisine.
great location at Broad & Locust – you can people watch at night. big windows.
nice buildout.
outstanding service, great maitre d.
menu & specials excellent.
i had grilled swordfish. excellent. the side salad had citrus & flavorings & was superb. just $ 25.
my lovely wife had an appetizer seafood dish that was superb, again reasonably priced.
Varalli’s is in the Theater/​Orchestra/​Business District and is an excellent choice for dining before or after a show or music. you can walk there from most major venues.
Most highly recommended. Also, they do take all major credit cards.

From bread to entrée, delicious food. Atmosphere relaxing, active but you can peacefully converse. Love it!

Although the service was great and the staff was extremely nice the food made me very ill. So… Beware.

This is a perfect spot to go to before a concert or show. They are about a block from the Kimmel and Wilma, and across from the Academy.
Comfortable booths in the back, echoing their cool Under Sea theme.
Nice craft cocktails, and a varied menu of pasta, seafood, and meats. Very good service who always asks if you are making a show.
Sometimes I try soup, salad and appetizers instead of an entrée.
On a weekend, I suggest a reservation.

Went here for restaurant week. Fantastic service and ambiance. The crab mango salsa salad was delicious. I ordered the steak & it wasn’t the best. It wasn’t well seasoned and a little dry. I would definitely go back even though I wasn’t crazy about the entrée.

We have dined at Varalli three times, most recently December 21^st 2014, every time has been an excellent experience. The venue is well designed with plenty of tables next to the windows along two walls.
The service is excellent with friendly and attentive staff.
The food is superb, the chef having an exquisite understanding of sauces. My favorite dish is Agnilotto Malanzane, a delicious ravioli. The mussel appetizer is also tasty. We paired the meal with a Marlborough, NZ Sauvignon Blanc, The Infamous Goose.
For dessert, try either the crème brûlée or the tiramisu, paired with an Irish coffee (made the correct way).
A great place to dine with family and/​or friends or to impress a date just before going to a show.

My boyfriend and I were planning to celebrate our anniversary together in Philadelphia and we asked some local friends for some suggestions. The first placed they mentioned? Varalli. So we booked the reservations and after a long day of doing tourism stuff and exploring the city, we stepped inside expecting just a nice simple dinner. What we did not expect was to be blown away by the food and service. Our server was kind and always checking in on us and making sure we were well with our meal. We had great appetizers but when we were given our entrée, wow were we blown away! I am kind of a picky eater and so when I asked the kitchen to take out one of the components in the dish I was hesitant it would not taste the same. My fault for choosing to leave it out but when it came out of the kitchen was I impressed. The presentation was wonderful and the taste of the steak was nothing I could explain in words. The chef who created it make it look absolutely stunning and I couldn’t bear to eat it. Even the owner stopped by to comment on the look of the dish. Overall, our experience at Varalli was nothing but wonderful. It was a great day to wrap up our anniversary and I definitely look forward to dining here again soon. I highly recommend it if you’re in town for a nice meal in a great location.

Love the location for ducking out quickly to see a show across the street and the service was OK. There were definitely no issues with the food, but I’ve had better. Overall an «A-​OK» experience as nothing particularly stood out.

This was my home bar for the 3 years I lived in Philly. Why? Great bartender, Karl, amazing Host, delicious food, lovely décor, and always someone new to meet our something interesting going on. So many memories were made here and now I have so many stories to tell. I highly recommend it if you’re in town.

The food here was ok, but what really stood out was the terrible service. Our waitress seemed offended when we asked if they had forgotten our bottle of wine (after waiting over ten minutes), and from there on out it was downhill:
They ran out of the special we ordered for dinner and we had to ask for the menu to be brought back out when they informed us.
When asked if we wanted our meat dish after our pasta we said yes and then they brought it at the same time. They did offer to take it back and hold it or sell that one and make a new one for us. We declined because I wouldn’t want to be on the receiving end of a dish that was already sitting on someone else’s table.
They brought out the wrong salad for my girlfriend’s entrée and didn’t realize it.
Everything took forever.
At the very end, the waitress made us wait while we watched her hold our check in her hand and talk to some people that were leaving for about 5 minutes when she could have easily reached behind and dropped it off at our table.

Varalli has the feel of a comfortable neighborhood restaurant. The food is consistently very good. Tonight we enjoyed appetizers of four cheese flat bread and homemade duck sausage served atop creamy polenta topped with a fried egg. Our entrees were herb crusted wild salmon, seared ahi tuna, and veal piccata. All were nicely prepared and plated. Flavors were excellent.
Also recommend their house cocktails prepared to perfection by bartender Nate.
I look forward to future visits to Philadelphia and to Varalli — want to try one of their pastas next time!

I took some out of towner here for a work dinner. We lucked out to sit in the corner window. Great view for us to people watch.
We all had beverages from the bar, our server did a nice job recommending drinks. The bread was so fresh and tasty! I loved the pesto.
We skipped the apps and went straight to the meal. I had a special, the lemon pepper linguine with calms, they were the small little necks, I enjoyed the dish. I practically ate the whole bowl. Portions were perfect.
The rest of the group had great meals too. The spaghetti with the egg they said was excellent. Only one person didn’t get pasta, he got the chicken dish said it was moist and flavorful. One of the dinners was undecided and took the waiters recommendation for the lobster ravioli, he scrapped the plate clean!
We skipped dessert — we were too full. I will definitely return.
It was a little pricey because we had some drinks but averaged about $ 40 a person. So that isn’t too bad for a dinner out in the city.

Overnight trip with the GF to Philly.
After dinner drinks
Food– Didn’t know this was a restaurant. Just grabbed drinks
Service– Bartender was friendly
Ambiance– Dark
We decided to grab drinks here after walking from Budakkan.
First thing I noticed was that there was a huge squid on the ceiling, which was pretty cool.
We came in pretty late and all the patrons were sitting at the bar.
Ordered a few cocktails/​beers and just chilled.

So at 5:30 on a Saturday I noticed that my curtain time for the ballet was 7pm not 8pm and the dinner plans I had previously made went out the window. Walked into Varalli at the last minute with no reservation, and found seats at the bar. The bartender made us feel right at home and quickly got us drinks and put our food order in. He also informed us that ballet customers get a 10% discount. Complimentary bruschetta with pesto and olive oil came first, then we enjoyed flatbread pizza and linguini with clams. It was comfortable eating at the bar. Service was speedy (in and out in under an hour, made it to the ballet in time!) and the food and wine were enjoyable. Overall good experience and I will come here again!

I was at Varalli’s twice. This time we were there for a friend’s birthday and it just so happened to be restaurant week. As soon as you walk in you are greeted by cordial, warn smile, and happy bow tie of the maitre d. I am a hostess part-​time at the «most romantic restaurant in Philly» and he somewhat even inspired me to be better my service to those who come in. He was just very friendly and made you feel very comfortable. He paid special attention to those who walked in and were leaving.
The service was excellent and the rolls were warm. Everything we ordered was very fresh. The apps, entrees, and desserts. The colossal crab cocktail was very light and fresh. The filet was especially tender and cooked to perfection. And the tiramisu was delicious! I couldn’t save stop myself from devouring the whole thing in minutes.
Overall, the experience was great. It is definitely a place that has it all together. The octopus décor is super neat. The layout is great. Very spacious yet cozy. And for being restaurant week, it was not crowded nor overwhelming. It was simply perfect.

Our little gang of Phila Orchestra goers has been noshing here now and then over the past couple of years. Dishes vary from so-​so (wild mushroom soup — they need to learn from Brian’s in Lambertville) to almost everything else, which in our experience has been very good or, such as lobster ravioli, excellent. They also do a right and proper Irish coffee, using fresh, ever-​floating thick cream like God intended.
Service is consistent, friendly and good, and they are attuned to the needs of often-​mature patrons having to get to the theater or concert on time.
Bottom line, we’ve tried all manner of eateries around the Kimmel Center, but this is our favorite because of its mix of pluses for theater going. Whether Sr. Garces forthcoming «Volver» at the Kimmel will overall beat Varalli remains to be seen.
Another plus for Varalli took place last Saturday, when I forgot my AMEX card on the table. They called a friend’s phone that evening (she had made the reservations), but she didn’t check messages until we’d returned to the ‘burbs. The next day the manager, George Van Schiver, arranged to watch through the window for my approaching Jeep, then pass the card to me as I quickly parked beside the restaurant. He was all smiles and good cheer and couldn’t have been more helpful — hugely appreciated!
In all, four-​plus stars for food, five for everything else that a pre-​concert patron could wish for.

Would definitely give ZERO stars if I could. Ugh…
Our group met here recently to get a bite before heading over to a show. Nothing out of the ordinary there — these restaurants are supposed to specialize in serving folks like us, in fact, making sure that we’re well fed and able make it to our shows on time.
Awful. Didn’t happen. The service was ridiculously slow, in part because our group didn’t arrive all together (our fault; we’ll take that), but mostly because our server was deeply inferior. I don’t know if she was new, or what.
The food took forever to arrive, didn’t taste good at all (and I’m talking simple stuff, like flat bread pizza), and we got no indication from either the menu or the waitress that one of the dishes we got even contained NUTS, to which my child and I are highly allergic.
The kicker: The terrible server had the audacity to take my husband’s debit card receipt and WRITE IN THE TIP AMOUNT HERSELF, along with a note, saying there’s an 18% gratuity for parties of 6 or more. How dare she?!
It’s not that we’ve never heard of such a policy, but they’re generally indicated on the menu or PRINTED on the receipt, not randomly written in by hand, by some random waitress. Is this even legal? Grrrrrrrrr!!!
My husband was FURIOUS, of course, but we didn’t even have time for a proper tongue-​lashing of the waitress and the manager, because the slow service caused us to have to RUN across the street to make our show on time.
NEVER, EVER again.
You’ve been sufficiently warned.

This review is mainly for the lobster ravioli.
Every time I have ordered or been with someone who ordered lobster ravioli, I have always been disappointed to see a smooth, mashed filling. I want to feel like I’m eating lobster meat, you know?
So imagine my surprise when my lobster ravioli came to me at Varalli (they were out of the gnocci, my first choice), and I bit in to chunks of lobster meat. I don’t want to be over-​dramatic and tell you that the heavens opened up and I heard angels sing… but I heard angels sing. It was divine. The pasta shell was thin, the filling meaty, the sauce rich and full of mushrooms and tomatoes.
My dining companions were all pleased with their meals, the salads look to be pretty good, and the crisp zucchini appetizer was a hit. We enjoyed pleasant service from a guy who was kind enough to ask if we were on our way to a show and did we need to be in and out quickly. We had just come from a show and had all the time in the world, so he took his time and so did we.
P. S. Leave a little room for dessert. The tiramisu will blow your mind.